Dragons East!

The title song of Dragon’s Dogma is an aural culture clash.

Game music has the power to earworm its way into your heart long after you put the controller down. Each week in Game That Tune, we highlight a great tune from a great game (or a great tune from a just-okay game).

Song: “Into Free –Dangan–”Composer: B’zGame:Dragon’s Dogma

Every early review I read for Dragon’s Dogma last spring included some variation on the “Japanese game maker Capcom tries to make a western-style, open world role-playing game” angle. Obviously, America and Japan both have their own cultural cues and styles, from weapons to color palette to expressions of emotion to gravity’s effect on hair. Japanese role-playing games even have their own jargon-y designation—“JRPG”—which, on a basic level anyway, signifies a distinctly manga-influenced gaming experience. For Capcom to cross the streams, as it were, is a pretty ballsy move—one that might yet cause every molecule in our bodies to explode at the speed of light.

If you’re Capcom, how do you ape the west in an authentic way? You start with the basics. Swords and magic? Check. Lots of grays and browns? Check. Stunning high-fantasy vistas? Check. Dyspeptic goblin hordes? Check. All Capcom would need to make the transition complete is an appropriate score—gothic, yet rousing—fit for a brooding hero. Maybe Capcom could do something akin to what composer Jeremy Soule created for Skyrim—those monkish chanting that greet you on that game’s title screen really get you in the mood for smiting, and first impressions are important.

The Dragon’s Dogma title screen arrives unremarkably enough—a dragon perched on a rock in the distance accompanied by dulcet piano tones. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a ripping guitar drops in, and some guy from the Cheap Trick school of WAAAAAAAAA starts singing about flying free and letting go and iodine and seriously what the hell is this, Capcom? I’ve never been to Japan, but this is how I picture the elevator music in Tokyo. It’s as though I’m being subjected to a variation on the Clockwork Orange Ludovico technique, except with my ears. Instead of developing an aversion to violence, though, I fear I’ll never be able to watch an episode of Dragon Ball Z ever again. But I’m physically unable to stop listening the whole way through. There’s even a solo. It’s just all so incredibly incongruous to the mood and style of the game. The song is in English, but I can’t help but feel something was lost in translation. I love it.

Illustration by Derrick Sanskrit.

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PaganPoet

I can’t help but sing “Let’s fighting love” along with this song.

http://twitter.com/TheBryanJZX90 TheBryanJZX90

I was just looking up the lyrics to figure out what the hell he’s saying and… is the song actually about the nuclear disaster in Fukushima?

“Today I woke and looked outside again
But the sky looked the same to me
Something told me that this world had changed
Couldn’t figure out what did it mean

Some say to get out fast, looks like it’s gonna last
Get all your things and fly (DON’T LEAVE NOTHING BEHIND)
Some said it’ll be OK, just go ahead and stay
Be sure to drink your iodine”

HobbesMkii

That last line is just your everyday friendly, helpful health advice, I assume.

His_Space_Holiness

Be… sure… to… drink… your… iodine?

A cruddy commercial? Son of a BITCH.

George_Liquor

“Be sure to drink your iodine”
Iodine? A crummy commercial?

Son of a bitch!

EDIT: Aww DAMMIT!!

His_Space_Holiness

I shot your eye out!

George_Liquor

Oh fuuuuuuuuuuudge!

AmaltheaElanor

Oh, I hate, HATE this opening song. I’m playing through the game right now, and I feel like the song starts pretty with the piano, deceiving you into thinking it’s a nice song, and then suddenly turns into something atrocious with a guy who can’t sing, and I can’t get through those titles fast enough. Seriously – it drives me nuts that the game has to spend 30 seconds to check and make sure and I don’t have DLC and then remind me how I can buy DLC and then check once again to make sure I don’t have to have DLC, because it always means I run the risk of hearing the start of him singing and it’s awful.

Gah. I’m sure I care way too much about this.

George_Liquor

I love it. It reminds me of the Pod People song:

With a pickle mind

We kick the nipple beer

Steady as a goat

We’re flying over trout

Ghetto down the highway

At the speed of light

All I wanna feel now

Is the wind in my eyes

Sack of monkeys in my pocket

My sister’s ready to go!

Boonehams

*thumbs up* It stinks!

His_Space_Holiness

Good? He’s the best.

His_Space_Holiness

Double Dragon’s Dogma: Neon

stakkalee

Now i have to run out and purchase a denim jacket and leg-warmers! Quick, is my collar popped high enough?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

Ok, so I might be dating my self, but what does Cheap Trick School of WAAAAAAAAA, mean, exactly?

George_Liquor

This I think. This is the Cheap Trick song Dragon Dogma’s theme reminds me of, anyway.

Not their best work, IMO.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=579674289 Morgan Filbert

Ah. I see what you mean. Having never seen Top Gun I suppose it’s understandable that I’d never heard that particular song.

Chip Dipson

This is the type of music one would expect for the Ladyhawke video game that only exists in my head.

http://twitter.com/djbeema Reuben

When did Green Day start doing game music?

dreadguacamole

It’s always sounded to me like an extra-cheesy version of Dream theater.